"On the morning of October 27, 1967, honored guests gathered on the flight deck of the USS Lexington Naval aircraft carrier.  Included on the main stage were F. Edward Hebert, our US Congressman, Victor Schiro, the Mayor of New Orleans, New Orleans Archbishop Philip Hannan, the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Thomas Moorer (the highest ranking officer in the US Navy), and Brother Remigius, the President of St. Aloysius. These high ranking guests presided over a Commissioning Ceremony that authorized the beginning of the St. Aloysius Naval Junior ROTC. Navy Captain Jimmy Jones formally accepted responsibilty from the Chief of Naval Operation in front of the newly formed NJROTC regiment that consisted of every student at St. Aloysius. The entire school transitioned from daily school clothes to wearing the NJROTC uniform every day. 

Two years later, when St. Aloysius and Cor Jesu consolidated to form Brother Martin High School, more than 1,000 students arrived at school the first day in the NJROTC daily uniform consisting of a khaki shirt, khaki pants, webbed belt, brass buckle, black socks, and black shoes.They had a clean and professional haircut. At the time, NJROTC was mandatory for every student at our school. The NJROTC was a way to bring together students from two different schools and give them a common uniform, a common standard, and a common goal of forming them into citizen leaders ready for the demands of the world. The all-khaki uniform was the traditional uniform for Brother Martin students for many years, all the way through the 1995-96 school year. Our school uniform and our holistic approach to fostering and modeling self-discipline in our students are traditions whose foundations can be traced back to our NJROTC program.     

Today marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of our storied NJROTC. Only one school in the world, Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, has an NJROTC older than Brother Martin’s. In the first year of operation, we earned the designation of State Champions. In 1969, our drill team marched in President Nixon’s Inaguration Parade in Washington, DC. Since the beginning, our unit earned Bravo Zulu every year for outstanding grades in all areas of our annual inspection. We earned Naval Honor Unit 26 times, representing the top 20% of NJROTC units in the country. 

Recently, our Area Manager selected Brother Martin as one of the first 15 schools in the country to pilot the 8th grade cadet program in 2020. Our Color Guard performs at more than 50 events per year. The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau provides our contact information to all conventions that request a Color Guard for their opening ceremonies. Our NJROTC competes in competitions nationwide including athletics, academics, drill, air rifle, and cyber security. Our NJROTC does all of this while representing Brother Martin’s core values. For 55 years, our NJROTC transformed at least 40 new cadets per year and formed them into leaders you see around the school. 

A number of our current faculty and staff were members of the Brother Martin NJROTC when they were students here, including Mr. Rando, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Nash, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Schluter, Mr. Alley, Mr. Dugas, Mr. Valiente, Dr. Melito, Mr. Jeandron, and Commander Nolan.

At a recent Alumni reunion for the class of 1970, the first Brother Martin class, a group of four alumni met Commander Nolan. He showed them the pictures from the Commissioning Day and they found where they stood that day. They found their names in the Chain of Command lists. Each remembered what Battalion, Company, and Platoon they were assigned that year. One teared up when he found his name on the list. He said his memories of the experiences and his friendships stayed with him for his lifetime. He said that what we do here will form our cadets into men who can make not just a living, but a life. Today, we recognize our NJROTC program’s anniversary and look forward to our next 55 years."